Perspectives

Dubrovnik was fantastic. Our nervosity for not being able to get the interviews we needed for the bachelors thesis disappeared on the Monady before our departure. Mrs. Zdenka, the mayors assistant In Dubrovnik had done her job well in connecting us to the key people for our deep drilling on development and conservation issues in the historic city.

Four months ago I had a very vague mental image of the country Croatia. Maybe that was a good thing, because during my week in the beautiful historic city that Dubrovnik is, only positive additions was made to that image.

Croatia is a country which is recovering and is managing quite well. Only 13 years has passed since the end of the Jugoslavian wars. The traces from the shelling of Dubrovnik’s old town in 1991-1992 can be seen only if you look beyond the medevial facades, marble streets, renaissance and gothic churches aswell as dig deeper into the minds of the inhabitants. The latest example is quite obvious. Every Croatian we met had a perspective on the war. It is a long lasting burden that the progressive generation of today and the elderly will live with for the rest of their lives. Today’s professionals, workers and newly graduates were teenagers and children at the time of the bombings. And they rememeber. All their actions and decisions today, are taken with that war in consideration. They know the importance of telling every foreigner and outsider of the psychological effects that the war has had on them and their alikes. They will not forget.

But the Croatian people wants to move on it seems. They want to struggle for economic independence and power. They want so bad to change that position on the European Union waiting list to a position on the list of the EU member states. And it seems, no price is too high to pay in order to achieve just that.

Issues of development and conservation in Historic cities was the topic and agenda for our visit. Ofocurse we had time for a visit in Dubrovniks largest nightclub (there are only two) aswell as other very touristic activities like walking on the ring wall in sunset, paying for overpriced minimum sized meals in the Stradun of Old Town, as well as visiting the nature preservation Island of Locrum. We also had time for horsebackriding in the mountains and stayed long enough to trim our buttmuscles in the treck back to our apartment each night, which held about 500 staircase steps up the mountain slope..

Besides those activities however, we were able to put the finger on the development issues of a Balkan country still recovering after a war. Development at any price I mentioned before. Yes indeed. Dubrovnik has golden opportunities for economic development and mainly, and as we will discover sadly, those Euros comes from tourism. As is the case in many other Mediterranean tourist destinations. Dubrovnik, however, is a bit different.

The Old city of Dubrovnik holds a cultural value so priceless to mankind that in 1979 UNESCO decided to take it upon their world heritage list. And even if that was the reason for the Serbian attacks in 1991, also, it is the reason Dubrovnik is now recovering from the same attacks. Tourists, the beloved mass, are attracted to these places of historic value. At least that’s what the statistics say. And that’s what the city budget says at the end of each summer season.

Tourists, they are loved for their gentle ways, their care for cultural values and their respect for local inhabitants. They love hearing war stories from the old men at the roadside cafés and chatting to shop attendants as they purchase designer clothes at half the price than theyre used to.They come on their ships, with their loaded wallets prepared with a huge interest for the culture and architecture at their chosen destination. Don’t they?

The ones of you which are gifted with the slightest humor and common sense can sense irony when you have to. The truth is, if tourists did love their destination even a fragment of what they set out to make inhabitants believe, then they would be greeted with open arms by the same and the love would, no question about it, be mutual.

In reality however, the only thing the inhabitants love about their temporary visitors, is their will to spend some serious cash. On the contrary, the tourists have interest merley in enriching their cultural capital by being able to add another visited place to their personal globe. And this is were the problem arises dear readers. This is where the trouble begins.

Development at any price? On the surface that is not the case. Conservation of a cultural heritage as the one that Dubrovnik holds is top priority. The natural and maritime environment must be protected at any price and no luxury cruiser has the power of changing that priority. In digging deeper however, in getting lucky and asking the right questions to the right people, another reality exposes itself. The cultural heritage that the city holds is a goldmine for the community. It is their cashcow for the next decade or two. The overall mentality is development now until we are economically strong, then we can focus on conservating our culture and environment! It takes no rocket scientist to figure out that equation doesn’t even out.

The Old Town in Dubrovnik. It used to be the homes of only Croatians. During communism, the state stuffed up to 5 families under one roof, having to share 60 sqm of medevial housing. I bet they loved those living conditions. But Not nearly as much as the same space is loved by the buyers of those apartments today. A square meter of medieval flat costs about 6000 euro today and the prices aren´t decreasing. The inhabitants of the Old Town used to add up to 3000 people. Today, 300 remain. The rest? Brad Pitt, Lisa Kudrow and Nicky Hilton among other celebrities don’t seem to mind the price tag and they purchase those valuable residences one after the other. The few locals who are still living in the old town has to compete with about 20 thousand tourists per day in the summer season while buying their groceries at one of the two minimarkets, walking from their car park to their house through one of four available entrances to the walled town, in going out for a coffee with a friend in the afternoon and other daily life activities. Now who won´t find that annoying? Even more annoying is the fact that the public space is occupied by restaurants, jewelers’ and tacky souvenir shops. Unless your basic needs consist of hand carved candles, postcards and golden bracelets, you have no choice but stepping out on those old streets. The war over street space begins with that first step.

What to do? Tourism is the key to economic power. It is the casket of gold to these people. From what I’ve seen the locals have two choices. Either hate it or love it. The latter being a pretended love is unimportant. The mentality has to be set on love. Smile, be nice and play along. The tourists will thank you with their spending. They will forward a good word of mouth to their friends at home which in the long run will accumulate even more money to your family’s wallet. Smile and you will soon be able to get in the game of status consumption, buying expensive electronics and travelling the world…Before they know it, they are standing on the main square of a city of which you´ve only read in a guidebook before. The audio guide held up tp their ears is repeating important dates and figures and talks about buildings and traditions of times lost. The audioguide suddenly falls to the ground as a stressed businesswoman from the area crashes into them from behind as she is attempting a shortcut through the crowd of tourists blocking her way to work. When this scenario becomes reality, and I isn´t far away, maybe then, the perspectives will change. Maybe then things will be shown in a different light.

Increasingly we are all inhabitans to the world more than a specific country. A bright insight I had many years ago as I strolled down the marble streets of Plaka in central Athens with a fellow backpacker. When mentioning my viewpoint of being a world citizen to him he told me it was a childish way of thinking. I believed him. During my other trips and meetings I´ve had with other cultures than my own, however, this feeling only grew stronger. Now I know why I love to travel. I know why I can´t stop to travel. It´s all about perspectives. Standing in the shoes of “the other”. Being the outsider looking in, and eventually being welcomed to having a glance from the inside. Being welcomed to looking out aswell.

This is exactly why no human should have an opinion about a country’s situation until they’ve actually stepped foot in that country. This is why perspectives need to be widened. Hopefully, the perspectives eventually lead to changes. Changes in the meetings of others. Turning questions such as “hello, how are you, where are you from, what do you do for a living?”, into questions of the kind “Hello, who are you”?